[(Title)] Puerto Rico: 1,400 died from hurricane but toll still at 64.

Officials now estimate more than 1,400 died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria; Phil Keating reports.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico –  Puerto Rico is estimating in a report to Congress that Hurricane Maria killed more than 1,400 people,

波多黎各正在向国会提交的一份报告中估计，飓风玛丽亚杀死了1,400多人，尽管一名岛上官员周四表示，确认的死亡人数仍然冻结在64人，等待即将公布的科学审查。

though an island official said Thursday that the confirmed toll remains frozen at 64 pending a scientific review due out soon.

The government, relying on updated statistics it first reported in June, said in a report to Congress detailing a $139 billion reconstruction plan that there were 1,

政府依据6月份首次报道的最新统计数据，在向国会提交的一份报告中表示，该计划详细规定了一项1390亿美元的重建计划，其中2017年9月至12月的死亡人数比过去四年同期的平均数多1,427人。

427 more deaths from September to December 2017 than the average for the same time period over the previous four years.

The territory's government said that the additional deaths resulted from the effects of a storm that led to a  "cascading failures"  in infrastructure across the island of 3.3 million people.

该地区政府表示，额外的死亡事件是由于风暴的影响导致整个岛屿330万人的基础设施出现“连锁失败”。

The administration of Gov. Ricardo Rossello stopped updating its official death toll months ago and ordered an investigation amid reports that the number was substantially undercounted.

里卡多·罗塞洛政府几个月前停止更新其官方死亡人数，并下令进行调查，因为有报告说死亡人数严重不足。

Public Safety Department Secretary Hector Pesquera said the new total will reflect the findings of the investigation, which is expected in the coming weeks.

公共安全局秘书Hector Pesquera说，新的总数将反映调查结果，预计调查将在未来几周进行。

The figure of more than 1,400, Pesquera said,  "is simple math"  based on the number of excess deaths.  "This is not the official number of deaths attributable to Hurricane Maria,"  he said.

Pesquera说，数字超过1,400多人，“这只是简单的数学”，这是基于过度死亡人数的。他说：“这不是玛利亚飓风造成的官方死亡人数。”

In this June 1, 2018 file photo, a child shines a light on hundreds of shoes at a memorial for those killed by Hurricane Maria, in front of the Puerto Rico Capitol in San Juan.  (Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Hurricane Maria, which came just two weeks after Hurricane Irma passed near enough to cause damage to the island,

玛丽亚飓风在伊尔马飓风过后仅仅两周到来，足以对该岛造成损害，在波多黎各各地，电力和水被摧毁，洪水泛滥，使许多病人和老人无法获得医疗服务。

knocked out power and water across Puerto Rico and caused widespread flooding that left many sick and elderly people unable to get medical treatment.

"The hurricanes' devastating effects on people's health and safety cannot be overstated,

“飓风对人们的健康和安全造成的破坏性影响不容小觑，”政府在报告中寻求国会的帮助，帮助重建这个已经在风暴时期陷入深陷经济危机的岛屿。

"  the government said in the report seeking assistance from Congress to help rebuild an island that was already struggling from a deep economic crisis at the time of the storm.

In the weeks after the storm, Puerto Rican officials said the storm directly caused 64 deaths,

暴风雨过后的几周，波多黎各官员表示，这场风暴直接造成64人死亡。

many in landslides or flooding. But they have also said that more people likely died due to indirect effects of the powerful storm.  "We always anticipated that this number would increase as more official studies were conducted,"  Pesquera said.

很多人在泥石流或洪水中，但他们也表示，更多人可能因为风暴的间接影响而死亡。我们总是预计，随着更多的官方研究，这一数字将会增加。

The government commissioned an independent epidemiological study by George Washington University and the Milken Institute of Public Health that is due in coming weeks.

政府委托乔治·华盛顿大学（GeorgeWashingtonUniversity）和牛奶公共健康研究所（MilkenInstituteofPublicHealth）进行独立的流行病学研究。

The use of the higher death toll in the report to Congress was first reported Thursday by The New York Times.

上周四，《纽约时报》首次报道了在提交国会的报告中使用了较高的死亡人数。

Puerto Rico is estimating in a report to Congress detailing a $139 billion reconstruction plan that Hurricane Maria led to 1,427 more deaths. (Reuters)

波多黎各正在提交国会的一份报告中估计，玛丽亚飓风还导致1427人死亡，其中详细说明了1390亿美元的重建计划。

Most of the deaths occurred not in the initial storm on Sept. 20,

大部分死亡发生在9月20日的暴风雨中。

but in the ensuing days and weeks when the island-wide electricity outage and roads blocked by downed power lines and other debris made it difficult to move around and emergency services were stretched beyond their capabilities.

但是，在随后几天和几个星期里，全岛停电和道路被停电线和其他残骸阻断了，很难通行，应急服务超出了他们的能力。

Government agencies have used various methods to count storm deaths over the years,

政府机构多年来使用各种方法计算风暴死亡人数，当局通常试图将他们分为直接和间接归类，以便将死亡与自然灾害相关而不一定明显是由自然灾害造成的人包括在内。

with authorities generally trying to sort them into direct and indirect to include people whose deaths are tied to a natural disaster without necessarily being obviously caused by it.

New York Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, who was born in Puerto Rico,

纽约国会女议员NydiaVelazquez在波多黎各出生，她说：“要求制定关于灾后死亡人数的联邦标准的立法，"令人遗憾地指出，伊尔马和玛丽亚造成的破坏程度远远大于官方建议的死亡人数。”

has called for legislation that would establish federal standards for death counts after disaster.  "It has been tragically clear for some time that the devastation from Irma and Maria was many magnitudes worse than the official death toll suggested,

"  she said.